


In These Days

by DesertVixen



Category: Voltron: Lion Force (1984)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Introspection, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-26 19:23:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19774798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/pseuds/DesertVixen
Summary: Quiet moments in the garden





	In These Days

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SaraJaye](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/gifts).



The bitter wind bit through her dress as Lotor’s henchmen dragged her into the open. 

Romelle wondered for a moment if she shouldn’t have played along, looked for an opportunity to do the galaxy a favor and take Lotor out, even if her skin crawled every time he touched her. 

But she had served her purpose, and now Lotor was done with her.

This was how she would die, Romelle thought, this was how Bandor became the last survivor of Pollux’s royal house. This was the end, but she would meet it bravely. She would not show her fear. Lotor would enjoy it too much.

He was still taunting her, telling her what he planned to do to her cousin Allura after Arus was destroyed, when the ground opened beneath her and she was falling, falling, falling…

*** 

Romelle sat up in her bed, heart pounding. 

She was safe enough, in her own bed, alone. 

It was the nightmare again, just a nightmare. In the nightmare, she never heard that soft voice that reassured her everything would be all right. 

She had been cast into the Pit of Skulls, but she had been saved when she met Sven. He insisted she had saved him, with her stubborn refusal to let him stay in the caves, talking him into aiding her escape attempt.

Romelle had come to realize that maybe they had saved each other. 

She finally gave up on her attempt to go back to sleep, and decided a walk in the garden was what she needed. They were not as lovely and formal as they had been in the old days, but Romelle liked to see the growth in the garden, the progress. Her favorite was what would become the untamed garden, where she had played as a child. It would take a good ten years for it to take shape again, before it would be a suitable hiding place for a young princess. 

Romelle allowed herself a moment to daydream about a black-haired princess hiding among the flowery vines, perhaps playing hide-and-seek with a brave warrior who was nothing like the princes Romelle had dreamed about when she was growing up, in the old days.

In the old days. Those four words seemed to be everywhere, now that the forces of Doom had been largely defeated. 

Her relationship with Sven was the sort of thing that would never happened in the old days. Perhaps she would have met him at some formal event, and shared a dance. They never would have spent three days camped together in the rain, waiting to pull off a plan. She never would have been allowed to forget that she was a princess of Pollux, in the old days.

In the old days, she would never have been handed over to Lotor. Her father would never have allowed it, would not have allowed his oldest son to be turned into a monster. She would have been content.

But the old days were gone.

They might remake the galaxy into a better one, but they would never bring back the old days. Romelle was not going to let anyone put her back in the princess-shaped box, not after her hard-won freedom, not after all she had experienced.

As the Polluxian court reassembled, Romelle found that staying out of that box was more difficult than she had counted on. It was made more difficult by the fact that so many of the people trying to put her back in the box meant well. Her faithful lady-in-waiting, Lady Z, only wanted what she thought was best for Romelle. Bandor was doing his best to step into shoes that should have waited for years, and Romelle knew that there was no shortage of voices suggesting that Romelle’s behavior should be more princess-like.

Luckily for her, though, Bandor was doing his best to stand strong and make his own decisions. Even better, he worshipped Sven, respected him. She didn’t know if Bandor realized how close she and Sven were, but the young prince definitely admired the warrior. Sven made a habit of treating Bandor as an equal, not a child, and had even agreed to give him lessons in hand-to-hand combat, an offer that had made certain parties in the court very nervous. Romelle had been a little nervous herself, if only because she’d seen how lethal Sven could be without a weapon. But he was more than a skilled fighter – he was also a skilled instructor. He’d taught her some as well, but Romelle preferred to rely on a blaster. Even here, in the safety of the palace gardens, she carried a small one.

The sound of footsteps made her turn, her hand slipping towards the blaster, then relaxed when she saw it was Sven. 

“Late for a walk,” he said quietly.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she replied. She didn’t need to ask why he was out here – Sven probably slept less than anyone else in the palace. Even when he did sleep, he was restless, easy to wake because he slept so lightly – the habit of his service in Galaxy Garrison and his experiences on Doom. Where Romelle preferred a walk in the garden, Sven almost always chose the gymnasium and the training room.

“Neither could I.” He had seen her out the window, blonde hair gleaming in the moonlight, and decided to steal a few moments of peace. 

They sat on a bench near the entrance to the untamed garden, Romelle taking advantage of the rare opportunity to rest her head against his shoulder, let his arm wrap around her. The old days might be gone, but even in these days there were too many watchful eyes in the palace for her and Sven to have anything more than stolen moments. The older members of the court might still see her and Bandor as children, but they saw Sven as a dangerous unknown – useful, but possible that he would snap at any moment. So they kept watchful eyes on him, and interrupted any time they felt it was proper.

Just like in the old days.

In these days, Romelle would take what she could get. She would enjoy this quiet moment in the garden with the man she loved and dream about what new days might bring.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like it - it got a little more introspective than I originally planned.


End file.
